Raiders of Jiyū
by ScouterFight
Summary: Earth, Fire, Air, Water. When young Avatar Korra was a child the Red Lotus tried to kidnap her, what would have happened if they had succeeded but ultimately lost the child to a strange tribe deep in the Si Wong dessert. There Korra grew up happily and learned to bend all four elements and so much more through the teachings of the Raiders of Jiyū... [On Hiatus, not abandoned!]
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own the Legend of Korra. The Legend of Korra is the property of the producer of this** **wonderful** **piece of art, and are not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only. Then if I would own the Legend of Korra the story would have been like this:**

"Is this even the right place?" asked a woman in her fifties with two scars on her right check, towards an elderly man with a beard and a hat on his head. The man shrugged his shoulders but choose not to answer verbally.

The woman huffed and looked around her surroundings, they were sitting in an old and rundown bar at the border of the Si Wong desert and were waiting for a contract of them to show up with important information about the Avatar.

Nobody knows for sure if Avatar Korra died in the Avatar state or not all those years ago when the Red Lotus attacked her home but because no other Avatar showed up the people began to believe that the last Avatar died in the Avatar state which in turn put an end the cycle of the Avatar. But in the last few months more and more rumors about a young woman who could bend more than one element appeared, which began to prove that this believe could be wrong.

Right before the woman could open her mouth to ask if this contact will even appear the man with the hat began to speak ''Patience, Lin he will appear. We just have to wait.''

The woman called Lin narrowed her eyes at the man but before she could mutter a curse under her breath, a young man appeared before their table.

"Ah e…excuse me…," stammered the boy, "Are you the Lin and 'Zin' that I should meet here. My n…name is P…Ping."

Lin narrowed her eyes at the sorry excuse of a man. Standing before them thin, unkempt, dirty and trembling even his name was unimpressive.

The man apparently called 'Zin' stood up and beckoned Lin and their contact to follow him. They left the bar und entered an abandon alley. Lin leaned her back at the wall on one side of the alley while 'Zin' stood at the entrance of the small one way street cutting of the only way out of the alley.

Lin raised one eyebrow. "You are our contract right? So tell us what you know about the Avatar?" asked Lin in a no nonsense tone.

"I k…know th…that the Avatar is a…alive. She lives in t…the Si Wong desert with the Rai…Raiders of Jiyū," stuttered the boy.

Lin was beginning to feel ticked off with this stammering.

"With the Raiders of Jiyū?" asked a curious 'Zin'.

"You don't know the Raiders of Jiyū?" asked Ping in a disbelieving voice.

But before either 'Zin' or Lin could answer a cold laugh interrupted these three. Lin's head shoot upwards and on the rooftop of one building stood a person huddled in black and grey robes that covered her entire body, they seemed to resembled the robes that the sandbenders wore, who also lived in the Si Wong desert, her eyes were covered with goggles that reminded Lin of the goggles that the Equalist's like to use, except these goggles were a dark red like the eyes of a demon.

The person jumped of the rooftop and between 'Zin' and Lin. Their contract meanwhile sat slumped against the wall. Suddenly from somewhere beneath these robes came two metal cables and pressed the clearly frightened boy a few centimeters of the ground, against the wall of one of the buildings.

"P…please don't k…kill me," cried Ping.

"Oh don't worry if I had wanted you dead you would already be a cold corpse, two days ago, after you left our campsite to betray one of our own to the Chief of the police of Republic City and Tenzin, a councilman of Republic City." said the masked woman -because of her curves Lin could clearly see that it was a woman- in a cold voice.

"So you're a member of the Raiders of Jiyū?" asked the man now revealed as a councilman of Republic City and the last airbender master alive.

"Maybe, but even if I'm a member it's none of your business master Tenzin," retorted the masked woman.

"Who are you and what do you know about the Avatar?" spat Lin after she recovered from the amazing display of metalbending, the woman hadn't even moved a muscle and the metal cables wrapped around the man so free as if her mind controlled the metal.

"Relax Chief, I'm not one of your subordinates or captured criminals. I'm just here to talk some sense in this sorry excuse of a thief."

"P…please I d…do everything b…but p…please don't h…hurt m…me," sniffled the sorry excuse of a person.

"Oh don't worry, I'm not the one you should be afraid of, the Captain has a few words to tell you herself and then we decide what your fate shall be. But if you don't shut your trap right now I'm going to sew it shut," growled the stranger.

Tenzin choose that moment to interrupt before the entire event could escalate into unnecessary violence. "Please if you do know anything about the Avatar, we need to know. It is extremely important that you tell us," pleaded Tenzin.

"Everyone who wants to see the Avatar says that it is important that they meet her. But I haven't met one person who has really something important to tell the Avatar. So I'm making a wager with you. If you tell me why you need to meet with the Avatar and if I think that it is important enough that you need to meet her, I will take you to her, alright?" offered the masked woman.

Lin and Tenzin shared a brief glance and Lin sighed once before mentioning to Tenzin to tell her why they need to meet the bridge of the worlds.

"You probably heard of the Equalist movement in Republic City," began Tenzin.

"Yeah we have, what of it? I thought that was a movement that wants to make the world more equal between benders and nonbenders. I personally think that's a good thing. So, what's the big problem, which requires the Chief of the police and a councilman to wander so far out of their City to meet one person, even if it's the long lost Avatar?"

"Amon, the leader of the Equalist movement has the ability to take the bending of the benders who oppose him. Lately the movement has begun to get more and more violent. And we believe that he simply won't stop in Republic City, that someday when he has enough power that he will force the other nations to submit to his will," explained Tenzin.

"Did I get this right, he has and uses the ability to take the bending from the benders?" shouted the woman with a disbelieving voice. Lin and Tenzin just nodded glumly.

"That's not good. I need to warn the others, we need to do something about it."

Lin watched her a few second as she muttered under her breath before she decided to interrupt the woman in her rambling.

"Well we told you why we need to talk to the Avatar. And, do you think it's important enough that you can bring us to her?" asked Lin in a frustrated voice.

The stranger mulled things over for a few seconds before she nodded once and beckoned with her right hand for them to follow. Poor Ping floated helpless in the air suspended with steel cables behind the stranger. The strange quartet walked a brisk pace in the direction of the town border. After a few minutes of walking a vehicle completely made of metal except the tires came into view. _(AN: I'm sorry, I'm horrible at describing things like cars. Simply think about the standard cars from Borderlands 2 except with 4 seats instead of 2 and without the gun on top of it)_

Beside the vehicle stood a mountain of a man clad in the same outfit as the woman except that his goggles were a soothing grass green. The man nodded once towards the woman but didn`t do anything else except enter the driver seat of the car. The woman secured the bound person to the vehicle with a few extra metal bands.

"Get in, we have a two hour ride before us so I recommend that you get comfortable," said the woman and jumped into the vehicle in the shotgun seat. Lin and Tenzin shared another brief glance before they jumped on the back seats and prepared themselves for a two hour ride through the desert.

"Would you be so kind and tell us your names because apparently you know ours," questioned Tenzin.

The woman and her partner shared a brief look before the man shrugged with his shoulders and the woman sighed.

"Alright my name is Taria and this is Korio. Any more questions?" Lin wasn't sure but she thought that the question was meant to be sarcastic.

"Just one. Where are you taking us?" asked Lin anyway.

Surprisingly it was Korio that answered this time and not Taria, who untill now was the one who did the talking. "We are taking you to our home where the person is that you want to meet."

Lin couldn't do anything but hope that this entire thing paid off because they were running out of options to fight against Amon and his Equalist's. She sighed and closed her eyes briefly while the endless ocean of sand drifted past her.

Two hours later, they arrived at their destination. In the distance they saw a large desert mountain and around this mountain was a town surrounded by a thick wall. The wall looked like it was made of wood, stone and scrap metal. Korio drove the vehicle before a large gate made of thick wood and reinforce with more scrap metal.

They stopped and Korio and Taria jumped out. Lin and Tenzin followed suit. They watched as Korio lifted the still bound man out of the open trunk of the car. They moved to the big gate and as they drew closer to it, the right side of the gate began to open. After a few seconds, the gate on one side was half open, so that they could easily slip inside without opening the gate completely

The first thing Lin and Tenzin saw when they entered through the gate was a large market like square.

But the square wasn't empty, far from it, everywhere they looked they saw people moving around. Some were carrying large crates others were simply talking with each other and they even saw a few children playing between the working adults. There were buildings too, seemingly made out of scrap metal and sandstone. If they looked in the direction of the mountain on the other side of the square they could see a small river surrounding the mountain.

Lin had expected everything in this desert, but a tribe so large out here that was something that she hadn't expected, she thought that they would meet a small bandit community out here but not something like this. These people seemed almost civilized and by the looks of it extremely organized.

Lin was snapped out of her thoughts as someone cleared their throat beside her and Tenzin. Lin looked in the direction where the sound came from and saw who she assumed to be Taria without her robes and creepy goggles covering her face. Taria looked to be in her mid-thirties. She had short black hair and the green eyes of an earthbender but they looked very cold and hard, like she has seen many hardships in her life, they reminded Lin of her own green eyes. Her face was long and slender with a weather–beaten but still fresh skin, without a blemish apart from the three centimeter long scar on her left cheek.

Next to her stood Korio likewise without goggles and robes cowering his face. He looked to be in his late twenties, earlier thirties. He looked eerily like Taria that Lin concluded that the two must be siblings or at least half siblings. His face was stockier than that of Taria but the skin was equally weather–beaten but still fresh. He had no scar on his face and his green eyes had a much friendlier look in them.

"Come one we bring you two to out leader, the Avatar is probably with her right now," announced Taria before she set of in the direction of the small river. Korio followed her, still with the bound Ping thrown over his shoulder.

Everywhere around them were people and they were starring suspiciously at Lin and Tenzin. The adults moved the children behind them and starred at them with something akin to anger in their eyes. The younger children starred with a little fright in their eyes from behind the legs of the adults at them while the older ones looked at them with a mild curiosity. Lin wasn't sure what to make of this behavior but she couldn't fault them for this, because they were strangers in their home, a place that is probably something like a sanctuary to them.

They followed Taria and her companion to an old stone bridge which led over the small river. Behind the bridge was a large entrance which led into the mountain. They crossed the bridge and entered through the entrance. Inside the mountain was a large room with many tables and chairs. It looked like a dining hall. Taria led them to a large staircase on the right side of the room. This staircase led these five to a short corridor with three doors, one on the left side, one on the right and one at the end of the hall.

They went through the last one and entered a room that resembled a council chamber. With one large round stone table in the middle of the room, a map on top of it, which shows the Si Wong desert and the surrounding regions, additional six chairs were placed around the large table. At the far end of the room Lin could see more doors that went god knows where.

Three people were already in this room. They all turned when Lin and the others entered. On the chair nearest to them sat a woman in her late twenties. She had the typical dark skin tone of a water-tribe citizen and short chopped brown hair. Her deep blue eyes were filled with mischievousness and a deep curiousness. She had a horrible scar that went from the left side of her forehead over her eye to her nose. She wore the same clothes that Taria, Korio and everyone else in this tribe seemed to wear. Next to her stood another woman, she seemed to be in her thirties, she looked like a typical fire-nation woman with raven black hair, in a ponytail that reached her shoulders and deep golden eyes that spoke of a deep distrusts towards others.

The last one was a teenager. She sat cross-legged on the chair across from the door they just entered through. She too had the light skin tone of a fire bender with ember eyes that spoke of a cunning and mischievousness that would scare weak minded fools. She had her black hair tied in a short ponytail. On her chin was small barely noticeably scar.

Korio strode forward and slammed Ping hard onto the table, he landed with an 'oomph'.

''Ping here wanted to give sacred information about our tribe to outsiders. He left our camp side two days ago to share information about the Avatar with these two people. Councilmember Tenzin of Republic City and the Chief of the metalbending police, Chief Lin Beifong, I observed how he told these two that the Avatar lives in our tribe. Shortly after he told them this, I decided to interrupt them before he could spill more secrets about our tribe to stranger. They told me that Amon the leader of the Equalist supposedly has the ability to take the ability to bend from the benders."

"He has the ability to do what?" asked the water tribe woman in a disbelieving voice.

"You've heard me right sister. Considering there are just two ways to take the ability to bend from someone I think you know who is behind this."

"And if I'm not mistaken I probably know which way Amon is using. There are just four people who could do this. And considering one is dead, one is a public person, one is missing and one is in this room. Yeah, I think I know who is behind this."

Lin narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean one is in this room? And which way do you think Amon is using?"

"Can I ask you a question first? If you can answer this one I'm going to explain everything to the best of my knowledge." the dark skinned woman waited a few seconds before asking, "When does he take the ability to bend from the benders?" Lin narrowed her eyes at the random question before answering.

"He does this at any given time, often at public events. These are a lot like a public execution. With his supporters cheering when he takes the bending away from his victims."

The woman nodded as if she expected this answer. She took a deep breath before answering.

"Ok. First things first, I'm guessing that he uses an old forgotten bloodbending technique. Older than the bloodbending that Hama rediscovered. Yakone was one of the first people to do this in hundreds of years. Like I said a long forgotten technique. It is an interesting aspect of bloodbending because the only way to really control it is with the mind. He taught three people this technique before he died. His two sons Noatak and Tarrlok and his daughter Miko."

"Tarrlok is Yakone's son?" cried Lin and Tenzin at the same time.

"Oh yes. He is very good at hiding behind a mask and being a manipulative b***" snarled the other woman. "Should've killed him when I had the chance a few years back""Wait a second what did you mean with that one person is in this room?" questioned Tenzin and ignoring the snarling woman, Lin wanted to ask the same question but she had her assumptions.

"Oh I mean myself. May I introduce myself, my name is Miko only daughter of Yakone and sister to Tarrlok and Noatak but I think you know him under the name of Amon."

Dead silence greeted this statement.

"So let me get this straight. You are Miko the daughter of Yakone. Tarrlok is the son of Yakone and a bloodbender. And Amon is a bender and also the son of Yakone. That makes him and Tarrlok your brothers." Miko just nodded. "What I don't understand is why is he so obsessed with taking the bending from others if he is a bender too?"

"To that I have no answer. I haven't seen Noatak since my childhood." before Lin or Tenzin could ask another question a clearing of a throat interrupted them and brought them back to the present. The other woman in the room had a slight annoyed gleam in her golden eyes.

"Sorry to interrupt you three, but I think introductions are in order. You already know Taria and Korio metal- and earthbending siblings and Miko a waterbender. This in the back is my protégé Kuro a young firebending master. And I'm Lilith also a firebender, yes I know I have strange name let's just say I'm from a place far away from here and leave it at that. Now that introductions are out of the way. What do you want here?"

"We are looking for the Avatar." answered Tenzin.

"Well then you are in luck because here I am" came a response from behind them.

They all turned and saw a young woman maybe 17 with short brown hair, dark skin and strikingly blue eyes.

Before them stood Avatar Korra, the lost Avatar.

 **So this is the first chapter in my first story. And to add to everything it's not even in my native tongue. Anyway I had fun with this first chapter and I hope that I will add new ones in the near future. So thank you for reading and I hope that you leave constructive reviews. If someone feels the need to flame I have just one thing to say: Do it better and post your own story. Thank you very much. This is ScouterFight and I'm out ;).**


	2. Chapter 2

Tenzin could not believe it and neither could Lin then before them stood the reincarnation of Avatar Aang.

Said reincarnation walked confidently past them into the council chamber. She made a small bow to Lilith, a brief "Good evening, Chief" passed her lips before she stood next to the older woman. She looked at Tenzin then at Lin as if she was waiting for something. When it became clear that neither Lin nor Tenzin would say anything she huffed and rolled her eyes. "Alright you two. What do you want? You travel so far out of your City to talk to me and when you finally meet me you don't speak a single word. I may be the Avatar but even I can't read minds." The last part was said exasperated.

Both shook their head briefly before Tenzin asked the questions that were on both of their minds.

"How are you alive, last you were seen it was the night the Red Lotus attacked your home? The world thinks you are dead and yet you are here alive and well. How did you even end up out here?"

The young Avatar took a moment to think before answering.

"Alright I'm going to tell you my story, but I'm only doing it because you are Avatar Aang's son and you are Toph's daughter." The last part was said in Lin's direction. "Please try to keep the interruptions to a minimum, it's a very long story and a few parts are very hard for me to talk about." She paused a moment before she began her tale.

"The night the Red lotus invaded our home I heard them speak about a big plan. They were arguing about what they should do with me. One pointed out that it would work in their favor if they could use me against their enemies. The person said that I would be more useful to them if they could train me and use me later against all who oppose them. The others seemed to be in an agreement and so they took me that night instead of simply killing me. I don't remember much of the following days because they kept me drugged with a special herb that made it hard for me to stay conscious, but I know that they fled to the Earth Kingdom because one day, they stopped at the border of the Si Wong desert in a small village.

Coincidentally a group of five people were in the same small village. These five were members of this tribe. Chief Vasrir, Lilith here and his council members Kano, Hiko and her brother Akio. They were trying to stop a group of bandits who were terrorizing the farmers in the area. Kano recognized P'Li and Zaheer from his past because he was working with them for a while. They later went separate ways long before the two joined with the Red Lotus." Here Korra made a short pause before she began again.

"Anyway it came to a fight between the two groups when Vasrir pointed out that something was wrong with me. I don't know exactly what happened but Vasrir and the others overpowered the Red Lotus. They took me with them back to their home a place very similar to this one here. It's on the other side of the desert by the way. Anyway a little later I woke up for the first time truly lucid since the night of my kidnapping. Vasrir asked me a while later if I wanted to live with them. I don't know why I wanted to stay with them but something told me that it would be in my interest if I grow up with the Raiders. Sometimes I think that one of my past lives tried to tell me something. After they found out that I am the Avatar, Vasrir and his council became my teachers."

She paused for a moment and closed her eyes. When she opened them again there was a tear in the corner of her right eye.

"A few months later. The Red Lotus returned and attacked Vasrir, Kano, Hiko, Akio and I when we were outside the village walls because they wanted to show me something that would later be vital for my training. On our way back to the village they struck. I knew my way back to the village so Vasrir told me to run while they tried to fend them off. I hadn't even brought two hundred meter between us before I heard a shout behind me. When I looked back I saw that Ming-Hua had Vasrir run through with an ice spike. I saw my mentor go down to his knees before P'Li attacked him with a compulsion blast, killing him instantly. The others were enraged and attacked with new vigor. But it wasn't enough. I couldn't move, it was as if someone chained me to the ground. I was forced to watch as the Red Lotus killed first Hiko then Kano and lastly Akio. I lost my mentors one after the other and I couldn't do anything. It was the worst night of my life. After the Red Lotus was finished with them they turned to me. But they didn't get very far. Lilith appeared together with Korio, Taria, Miko and another friend of theirs called Adym. They were star gazing that night and had heard the fighting. Enraged they engaged the Red Lotus and managed to fight them off." Tenzin and Lin listened enraptured as Korra told the story. She made a short pause but before she could begin anew Lilith opened her mouth.

"We were torn between hunting them down and taking care of Korra and the bodies of our fallen brothers and sister. Adym had offered to take care of Korra and to bring the bodies of the fallen back home. So we started hunting, it took us a few days but we found the Red Lotus hiding near the village where our tribe met them for the first time. We confronted them, defeated them but in the end we couldn't kill them. Because if we had killed them we would have dishonored everything our mentors taught us. We Raiders life with a philosophy in which we live free and don't let anyone else decide something for us that we don't want, we don't steal the freedom to decide their fate from others. And above all we don't kill because killing someone is the ultimate taking of freedom, except for traitors because they betray our trust and they dishonor the oath they took when they became members of our tribe." She paused for a second and took a deep breath.

"For this we use the only death sentence that we have which is the 'Judgment of the desert' where the convict is abandoned deep inside the desert without any tools to aid him or her and if he or she is a bender they get chi blocked. If the person wants to live he or she needs to fight for their life and freedom. It's complicated to understand for outsiders like yourself. Our philosophy is in the core similar to the one of the Red Lotus but we don't believe that true balance lies in the chaos. But I'm getting off topic, Korra should I tell the rest or do you want to finish the story?" Lilith turned to Korra when she asked the question.

"Let me finish it." Lilith just nodded "So Lilith and the others did decide to let the beaten Red Lotus members live and simply left them to the authorities to find and deal with. A few days later we laid our brothers and sister to rest. Lilith took the mantle of Chief together with Korio, Taria and Miko as her first council members. Later two others joined the council, Mai our resident genius, she is Kuro's mother by the way and I joined two years ago. Anyway after we laid our brothers and sister to rest Lilith and her council became my teachers. I was six years old when we first started. Miko was the first one to train me. For two years she taught me anything that she knew about water manipulation and how to use it in a fight. After the first two years of my training was finished Taria and Korio started to train me, first in earthbending and later in metalbending, after one and a half years of earth- and metalbending training, Adym joined us. He is a very skilled lavabender and he took me under his wing and taught me lavabending, it took me five months till I got it right and then one month to mix all three forms together in a fight. Then Lilith started to train me for two years. She trained me in firebending and later she trained me in lightningbending. The first six years of my training was over. When I became twelve years old, I mastered three of the four elements. The last element was air and I must say it was the hardest element for me to master but after two years of hard training it paid off and I mastered it."

"Excuse me but how did you learn airbending?" Asked perplexed Tenzin. The entire group of Raiders began to smirk. Korra looked at Lilith and the Chief seemed to ponder over something. "Lilith may I show them the secret?" Lilith looked at Korra, then at Lin and Tenzin before back to Korra. She hummed once then said. "Alright but they need to swear that they won't tell anyone about this. We have hidden it for so long it would be a shame for it to be discovered now." Korra nodded and turned to them with a strange look in her eyes. She made a motion with her hand for them to follow her.

They went through a few doors, down a few flight of stairs, through a few halls, and again through a few smaller doors till the three were standing before a very large door. There Korra turned to them. "Alright I'm going to show you something. And you can't tell anyone else about this because it will have grave consequences if word gets out about this, understood? So you need to swear that you won't tell a soul about what you will see now." She looked at Lin than at Tenzin. Both shared a look before he nodded and said "Alright I won't tell anyone about this." Lin sighed and muttered "Alright I won't tell a soul about what I will see." Korra scrutinized both for a moment before she seemed satisfied and nodded. She turned abruptly and pushed the door open. Behind the large stone gate was a very large room, it had a very high ceiling with pillars scattered around the room.

Inside the room were four people, three children and one adult. The children were young not one of them was older than twelve years old. They reminded Lin a bit of Tenzin's children. The oldest one was a boy he looked to be eleven years old with short dark brown hair and olive-green eyes. The other boy was clearly the youngest. He looked to be about seven years old with equally short dark brown hair and large grey eyes. The girl was the second oldest she looked to be about nine years old with shoulder length black hair and strange cyan blue eyes. The man looked to be in his mid-twenties from what Lin could see he had his short brown hair styled in a military cut his deep grey eyes spoke of a calm mind and soul.

Lin and Tenzin were shocked to the core then all four of them were airbending.

Tenzin's eyes widened before he spluttered. "Airbenders? But how? I thought my family and I are the last airbenders alive." Lin was so surprised that she could not form any words.

Korra chuckled once before whistling, effectively interrupting the airbenders in the room.

The man looked over to them before his eyes widened he turned to the three children and shoed them out of the hall though a door behind him. The children looked at them with mixed expressions on their face. The oldest looked at them warily while the younger ones regarded them with a curious expression. The man waited till the door closed behind the three before walking over to them. When he stood before them he and Korra bowed before each other. He looked at Tenzin with a kind smile. "Hello master Tenzin, my name is Sohar. It's an honor to meet you, Korra told me many stories about Avatar Aang. He was a truly great man."

Then he turned to Lin. "Ah Chief Beifong. It's been a long time but it's good to see you again." Lin narrowed her eyes. "I'm sorry but I don't think we have met." He chuckled. "I was one of the witnesses in one of your cases a few years ago. The one were the Triple Triads blew up the warehouse near the harbor. I was just a teenager at the time and under the name of Lee." Lin thought for a moment but then it clicked. "Ah yes I remember you now you were with an elderly woman, right?"

"Yes the woman was my grandmother. Sadly she died a few years back." The Tenzin asked the question that was on both of their minds. "You and these children are airbenders but how?"

He looked at Korra who nodded curtly. He sighed once then said. "The answer to that is very simple. Before the Air Nomad Genocide, my ancestors and the ancestors of those children didn't live in one of the airtemples they were members of this tribe all those years ago. Korra do you know how many airbenders were living with the Raiders back then?" She looked thoughtful for a short moment. "I think it was about 7 airbenders and two air-nomads with airbender ancestors."

"Right. And because our tribes were and are still so isolated and nearly a secret to the world, those airbenders survived the Genocide in secret. The Chief Norwin and his council together with the other five tribe leaders of our culture came together and agreed to hide the remaining airbenders from the outside world. After Avatar Aang ended the hundred year war with Fire Lord Zuko it was once again decided that it would be for the best for the airbenders to remain hidden. Because even through the war had ended it was too dangerous for us to come out of hiding as then there were many people who wanted to finish what the Fire Nation so long ago started. In the end we really have no reason to come out of hiding. We are happy here and free, and really the only thing that we should try to avoid is to bend somewhere where a stranger could see us." He finished with shrug of his shoulders.

"If I may ask how many airbenders live here and in the other tribes you mentioned?" asked Tenzin after a short moment of silence.

"In this tribe are five and with me six. And I think in the other five there are a total of thirty-two airbenders."

"Nope Sohar, thirty-four. The birth of the twins was last month and trough we aren't entirely sure but we believe that they are both airbenders."

"Oh yeah you are right thirty-four airbenders then, in the other tribes and a total forty airbenders in our culture." Neither Tenzin nor Lin could believe it forty airbenders. A few minutes ago it seemed as if there are only four airbenders alive now it was more than a tenfold.

"So now you do know how I learned airbending, Sohar here was my mentor." "Yes, and it wasn't easy to train you. Airbending isn't really your element Korra." "No it really isn't but the hard work paid off, don't you think so?"

"Yeah it did, anyway I need to run I have a meeting with Kuro in a few minutes in her workshop. We want to finalize the plans for the canyon." "Alright I see you tonight at the fires I take it?" Sohar just nodded before he bowed and walked out of the room, through the same door the children had left earlier.

Korra turned to them "So now that this is over, how about we plan what we want to do with the Equalist problem? The other council members should be in the chamber." Both nodded and Korra led them back to the council chamber.

On their way back they were startled by a loud shout of, "KORRA!" that echoed through the halls followed by a little eight year old boy with raven black hair and ember eyes. The boy ran towards them and jumped into Korra's arms nearly toppling the poor teenager over in his haste. He looked at her with wide frightful eyes. "Is it true that you are going to leave us and that you will go to Republic City? Chang and Chao said so, they told me that you are going to leave us behind." Lin wasn't sure who this boy was but he resembled Lilith a lot.

"Shh its okay, Malik." She tried to soothe the clearly distraught boy in her arms. "I'm not going to leave the tribe. Why would you think that I would leave my family for some city? Yes it's true that I'm going to Republic city but it's only for a short period of time. I would never leave my godson or my brothers and sisters behind." The boy hide his face in her neck and mumbled something that Lin couldn't' understand.

Before Korra could answer to whatever Malik had mumbled, two boys, clearly twins, with short chopped brown hair and mischievous leaf-green eyes, raced around the corner. Both came to a crashing halt as soon they saw Malik in Korra's arms, both boys adopted the same strange look on their young faces. Lin recognized that look from her work, it was a look that clearly screamed busted. As soon as Korra saw them her eyes narrowed. "Chang, Chao come here you two." Both winced but walked forward with hunched shoulders. "What do you think you two are doing? Why did you tell Malik that I'm going to leave our tribe?"

Both hung their heads but choose not to answer.

Korra narrowed her eyes. "Well, I'm waiting for an answer. Wait a second, you have training right now, so why are you not at the training square with master Adym?" Again no answer came from these two. Korra sighed once then looked at the now calm boy in her arms. "Alright you two we will talk later about this, go to the training square and apologize to master Adym for being late. But be warned that Lilith will know about this."

Both boys swallowed once before bowing and practically racing away the way they came from. They watched them race away before Korra turned to them and apologized.

"I'm sorry for these two, they can be really troublemakers when they are not faced with a life threatening situation."

"Do you have them often?" Questioned Lin after a few seconds of silence. Korra hummed once and resumed her walk to the council chamber. "Oh yes, we help the villages in the area against outlaws and bandits. We may be outlaws ourselves but we don't torment innocent civilians. We just don't like authorities and most of their, in our eyes useless rules. It often comes to a fight between us and them. Chang and Chao are two of our most powerful members even if they are only twelve years old. They learned to lavabend when they were just two years old that's unheard of, normally only master earthbender discover the ability to lavabend."

After a few minutes of walking they were yet again standing before the door to the council chamber. Korra pushed the door open and Lin and Tenzin saw that five of the six chairs were now occupied. On the one nearest to the door sat Lilith the chair to her left was unoccupied, probably Korra's thought Lin, right beside her sat Taria then Korio then Miko and lastly an unfamiliar woman. The woman had long black hair tied in a bun and flashing intelligent bronze eyes. "This is Mai the last council member." Whispered Korra before she walked over to Lilith and passed her the now sleeping boy. Stomping once onto the ground she made two extra chairs next to hers. "Please be seated". Without waiting for them to sit she turned to Lilith and told her what happened with Malik. Lilith eyes narrowed while Korra told her the short story. When she finished she sat down on her own chair and Lilith stood up and turned to the now sitting Lin and Tenzin with a strange fire in her eyes.

"I think it's time that we discuss what we do about the Amon problem in Republic City."

 **So second chapter done and faster than I had thought it would take for me to finish. I anticipated that it would take me two weeks for this one to be done and yet I did it in just one.**

 **Anyway. There are still many open questions in this fic even for me, I'm still not sure where this will take me. If you have questions just ask them. I will try to answer them as much as I can without spoiling the entire thing.**

 **Sadly I won't be posting so frequently in the future then in one week, on Wednesday the 24** **th** **of august school starts again for me and it will be harder than ever so I'm going to need to do more schoolwork. I'm going to try to update within a month between each chapter. If it should take longer I'm not asking for forgiveness but for patience than perfection needs it's time and even if it's not perfection, it is so much work to get a three thousand word chapter done, so please be patient. Anyway I have given the future of this story much thought and I came to the conclusion that I have absolutely no idea how I wanted to involve an Equalist!Asami into this story. But I want to make her one so I'm trying to figure out how to do this, but maybe one of you has an idea how I could make it work. I'm going to spoiler now that probably Taria and Miko are going with Korra to Republic City. So she won't be entirely alone there without her tribe.**

 **And how do you like the idea of Naga living in an underground icehouse? Because it would be too hot for her without it in a desert. Answer me this one question and you are a great help.**

 **This is ScouterFight and I'm out ;).**


	3. Chapter 3

" _I think it's time that we discuss what we do about the Amon problem in Republic City."_

She sat back down, her young son still in her arms and mentioned in the direction of Miko. The water tribe native narrowed her eyes at her Chief. After a short moment of silence she began.

"Alright, if no one else is going to start this, I'm going to. We assume that Amon is my oldest brother, Noatak, because he has the ability to take the bending from someone. I can do the same thing and it's because of my bloodbending and not because of some spirit like Amon claims." A snort escaped her.

"We have no proof for this through. But if he is Noatak and even if he isn't, I want to be with the group that will travel to Republic City." Lilith nodded thoughtful "You are right, it's always useful to have a bloodbender at hand." Then she turned to Lin and Tenzin. "Could you please tell us everything that you know about Amon?"

"Do you want to tell them Lin or should I do it?"

"I don't care either way, just do it Tenzin. The faster this is over, the faster we can move on."

The airbender sighed once before telling the council of the Raiders everything they know about Amon.

"Alright there is not much that we know about him just that he claims to have been born on a farm to a family of nonbenders, that he is also a nonbender, and that he developed strong feelings of hatred and revenge after his parents' supposed murder at the hands of a firebender. He also claims that he was chosen by the spirits to bring balance to the world, as he thinks that the Avatar has failed to do it."

Here he paused and looked at Korra, but the young Avatar didn't seem fazed by the comment just lost in thought. She was staring at a spot on the wall across from her.

"Not too long ago when he showed that he could take the ability to bend from someone he showed his face to the people who were watching. One of these people we managed to question. He told us that Amon has horrible burn marks on his face, probably from the firebender that killed his parent's, if his story is true. This is all we know about Amon. The Equalist movement has been brewing for a few years now, but it's reaching its boiling point and now with Amon in charge who can take bending away, we fear that the Equalist's will become much more aggressive." Finished Tenzin

"Thank you." Began Lilith. "I think that it's time that we discuss who is going to Republic City to aid Korra in her quest to stop Amon. Miko you already volunteered to accompany Korra to Republic City, right?" The waterbender master nodded her head.

"Yes that was the plan because fighting against a bloodbender is nearly impossible without using bloodbending or the avatar state, and it would give us an advantage to have one on our side even if Amon isn't a bloodbender. And if Amon isn't my brother I want to find out who is behind this entire mess. Because I don' believe for one second that the spirits have given him this power. That's absurd, the spirits stay out of our affairs. They aren't interested if someone has bending or not."

"Yes, I agree with you there. I would like to send two more people. Preferably one bender and one nonbener. Any ideas?"

"How about my apprentice Hiro?" Offered Mai who till now has been watching the entire thing in silence.

"Hiro? Is he even in the condition to fight? I mean the accident happened only two years ago. You don't recover from such an injury in a so short amount of time." Asked a curious Korio.

Lin saw how Korra winced as the earthbender pointed this out. She wondered what this was about. Was Korra involved in the accident, or was it so horrible that it hurt the young Avatar when it was mentioned?

"I believe that he is ready to go on missions again. His wounds have healed nicely and his training has picked up again." Lin focused her attention back on the matter at hand but she stored this reaction in the back of her mind. She was curious, about what accident and injury they were talking about.

"Alright. Hiro would be the nonbender. Now about the bender who will go with them. How about you Korio you haven't been on a mission in a while?"

"No, thanks I hate that city as much as you do Lilith. But what about you, dearest sister? Aren't you tired of being cooped up in here?"

"Me? I thought that you would jump at the chance to get out of the council sessions and the clan affairs. Especially if your fiancé is going too. But it has been a while since I participated in a real fight. Alright I'm going with Korra to Republic City."

"So Korra, Miko, Taria and Hiro, if he is up to it, are going to Republic city, with Lin and Tenzin, to stop the Equalist movement and their leader Amon."

"And who is going with us if Hiro can't go?" Inquired a curious looking Miko.

"If he isn't up to it then I'm going with you. Hiro and my daughter can manage the workshop and the garage in my absence." Came the prompt answer from the sword wielding assassin.

"Is this alright with you Lilith? You would lose three or even four of your council members for an indefinite period of time." The question came from a bored looking Taria. Through when Lin turned towards Lilith she saw that the possibility didn't seem to bother her, she almost looked disinterested.

"Yes, I'm aware of that. But this situation would probably become very dangerous unattended and at the moment we can easily solve this problem without causalities on our side. Right now it's our top priority to stop Amon and the Equalist movement, and while I'm all for equality between benders and nonbenders we need to stop these people, they are more like terrorist than anything else" She cooked her head to the side and suddenly looked a bit worried.

"But I need you back for the meeting of the councils in a few months. Then there I need the support of my entire council."

"No worries we will be back long before the big day." Chuckled the young Avatar.

She smoothed her grinning face into an impassive one before she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back in her seat. "I have two last questions. Firstly, master Tenzin, Chief Beifong where will we be living for our stay in Republic City?"

Tenzin and Lin turned towards the young Avatar. The airbender master cleared his throat. "You will be staying with me and my family on Air Temple Island. If this is alright with you of course, or do you want to stay elsewhere?"

"No this will be alright." Answered the Avatar for her companions. Both Taria and Miko nodding in the background

"Alright, second question. Master Tenzin would it be alright if my polar bear dog could accompany us and live with us and your family on Air Temple Island?

"Yes of course…, wait did you say p…polar b…bear dog?" Spluttered the surprised airbender.

The entire council erupted in belly shaking laughter when they heard the surprise in the voice of the usually composed airbender.

"Yes, you heard right. A polar bear dog." Chuckled Miko she leaned forward in her seat and looked directly at Tenzin and Lin.

"When Korra was 7, nearly two years after she first got here. We visited our brothers and sisters in the South Pole. One of our other tribes lives there. Anyway a few days after we arrived. Young Korra together with Hiro and Kuro explored the area around the small village. Hours later, one hour before it got dark actually not one of them had come back to the village. It was strange because that wasn't the first time that the three were alone exploring somewhere." She chuckled once again but this time Korio and Mai joined in.

"Anyway, we slowly got more and worried as the time went on because it slowly got darker and darker. Lilith, Korio a member of the village and I went looking for them. We found them after searching for roughly and half an hour. All three of them were sitting around a small campfire. A small ball of white fur laid in Korra's lap while she softly stroked the fur. The small bundle turned out to be a polar bear dog pup." The waterbending prodigy was full out grinning now.

"It turned out to be the polar bear dog that Korra tamed a few weeks before the Red Lotus kidnapped her. Naga, that is her name, smelled Korra from the place where she was living and followed her nose till she found Korra playing with two other children in the snow. The two have been inseparable since then. By the way Naga is Korra's animal guide."

"Where does she live, I mean a desert isn't the best climate for such a type of animal. It's too hot here for a polar bear dog." Questioned Lin. But it wasn't Miko who answered this time it was Korra who spoke up to answer the question.

"There is an easy solution for this. Miko together with a few other waterbenders and a handful of earth- and metalbenders build a large cave beneath this mountain. The temperature in the room is fully controlled thanks to the waterbenders who once a day refresh this room so to speak. Naga lives there and if she wants to run I let her out when it gets dark because, when the sun is out it is simply too hot for her to be outside. When it is dark she is allowed to wander the village. But you still haven't answered if I can take her with me. And don't worry she is harmless."

Lin narrowed her eyes because she simply couldn't believe it. A tame polar bear dog are there anymore surprises waiting in this strange place? It took Tenzin a few seconds to get his bearings back before he could answer. "Yes of course Naga is welcome to come with us."

Lilith stood after a few seconds of silence, still with the sleeping boy in her arms. "Then it is decided. You will leave first thing in the morning." She turned to Lin and Tenzin.

"Council member Tenzin and Chief Beifong, you are welcome to stay the night. No need to return to Republic City tonight. Korra would you please show them to their quarters." The Avatar nodded curtly.

"Is this all or does someone have something to share with us tonight?" The firebender scanned the room briefly while she waited for someone to speak up. She raised her right eyebrow.

"Alright then meeting adjourned."

With that the Chief turned on her heels and walked out through one of the doors with her sleeping son still safe in her arms. One by one the Council members stood up and walked through different doors. Till only Tenzin, Lin and Korra remained in the room. Korra was still seated and seemed again to be deep in thought she mumbled something under her breath before she stood up and turned to them.

"Follow me I'm going to show you where you can stay the night. Do you want to eat with the rest of the tribe or should someone bring you, your meal?"

"What do you want Lin?" The airbender master turned towards his old friend.

Lin shrugged "I do not care either way. You can decide where we should eat."

Tenzin nodded and turned his head back towards the Avatar. "If it's no trouble then we would like to eat with the rest of the tribe."

The teen just nodded and walked towards a small door at the far end of the room. Lin and Tenzin followed, both deep in thought over what they had seen and learned today. A few minutes later they were standing inside a small hut near the wall that protected the small village.

The hut was furnished with two beds, one small table, a chair and a little cabinet, between the two beds laid a small carpet with the same symbol that everyone in this place seemed wear somewhere on their clothes. He noticed that most of the raiders wore the symbol on a strip of cloth which adorned their right upper arm, it was the symbols for the word, Jiyū, which means freedom, fitting he smiled to himself. These people seemed truly free from what he had seen in their short stay. On their short walk to this hut they had seen a few children playing and running around without a care in the world. Adults were talking, working and some were even playing with the children. And what was the most impressive none of these people seemed to be stressed like the people he saw in Republic City.

"This is where you will be staying tonight." The voice of the Avatar pulled him out of his thoughts.

"In an hour someone is going to get you, he or she will lead you back to the mess hall." With that she turned around and left the small hut. And for the first time since they met Ping, in the village near the border of the desert, the two were left alone.

He sighed once and moved towards one of the beds and sat down. After a few minutes of silence he looked at his old friend, she was looking at the ground with her eyebrows scrunched in thought and her pale green eyes looked troubled. He knew that the problems in Republic city were slowly beating her down but right now she looked utterly defeated.

"What are you thinking about?" He wanted to break the uncomfortable silence that engulfed them since they entered this hut a few minutes ago.

For a few precious seconds it seemed as if Lin wasn't going to answer him, but then she looked up and met his eyes.

"It has been a few hard weeks and now we suddenly find out that the Avatar is alive, lived all those years a strange group of outlaws and they are going to help us fight against a threat that has nothing to do with them except that they assume that Amon the brother of one of them? I'm sorry but I find this all a bit strange."

"I understand what you mean Lin but we have no other choice. We need to do something about Amon and his Equalists and Korra and these Raiders could be our last hope without risking a full out war."

"I know Tenzin, I know. But I don't trust them. They are outlaws and they live here so deep in the desert. I have never even heard of them and neither have you and now you are letting them stay with your family!" She cried outraged. She took a few deep breaths.

"You have seen how powerful Taria is. You have seen how she manipulated the metal without even moving. And Miko is a bloodbender. We don't know about Hiro but the last part of the group is the Avatar what if they try to hurt you and your family, or even someone else in a fight we would stand no chance against them." She was a little calmer now but still upset and Tenzin knew that he needed to do something.

"I know Lin but we need to trust them. We need help against Amon and if they are going to help us then we need to accept their help. And have you seen them? I don't think that they are going to attack us without provocation."

"Alright Tenzin I'm going to trust you, but not them. One toe out of line and they leave the City, Amon be damned." Tenzin only nodded, he could only hope that this entire thing will pay off.

They sat the rest of the hour in silence lost in their own thoughts and concerns until a knock sounded on the wooden door. Lin stood up from her place on her bed and opened the door. Behind the door stood Kuro together with an unknown young man. The young man seemed to be in his late teens and looked as if he had Fire Nation ancestors, similar to the young woman next to him. He had red streaks in his spiky black hair, two scars on his face, one large scar went from his right temple to his nose and one smaller scars on the left side of his lip. His large ember eyes spoke of a frightful amount of intelligence. His lips were pulled into a gentle smile. He like everyone else wore clothes that resembled the clothing of the sandbenders with a small strip of red cloth on his right arm with the symbol of Jiyū on it.

"This is Hiro, my fiancé, he is the last part of the group that will travel with you to Republic City to stop Amon and the Equalist's." The young firebender master introduced. "Hiro this is Chief Beifong and Master Tenzin a member of the Council in Republic City."

The young man nodded before he bowed. "It is an honor to meet you Chief Beifong and master Tenzin I've heard much about you. Anyway we are here to escort you back to the dining hall. Are you ready to leave?"

Lin looked back towards Tenzin who still sat on his bed. He nodded, stood up and walked up to the door. With a small smile he said. "Yes we are ready. Lead the way."

The four walked in silence towards the dining hall. On the way Lin noticed that the village was now nearly deserted. When they entered the dining hall the reason became clear very quickly. The large mess hall was packed with people. Again the two guests were surprised by the amount of people who lived with this secret society.

Five stone tables were situated around the large hall. Four long tables were lined up towards a smaller raised table. And nearly every last seat was occupied. At the raised one sat Lilith together with Korra, Taria, Korio, Mai, and Miko.

"You'll be sitting with the council and the Chief up there. The other members of the tribe sit in no specific order at the other four tables, but only the Chief, the council and our guests are allowed to sit up there at the head table." Explained Hiro. When Lin turned away from the large hall to look at the young man she saw that he had his arm thrown lazily around the shoulders of his fiancé.

Kuro and Hiro lead them up a small amount of stairs till they stood directly before the head table. There Kuro removed the arm of her fiancé and both bowed before the people sitting there

"Good evening, Chief, council, mother." Mai looked at her daughter and her pupil with a gentle smile. The coldness in her sharp bronze eyes diminished a little bit when she looked at her offspring and student but returned shortly after when her eyes strayed to Lin and Tenzin. Lilith nodded once at the two young adults and dismissed them with a short wave of her right hand.

Lilith waited till they completely disappeared down the stairs before she invited them to sit with a short nod "Please sit. It has been a long day and I'm sure you are hungry."

A few hours later Tenzin laid back in the small bed that was giving to him. He was exhausted but sleep wouldn't come easily to him that night. His mind was a whirlwind of chaotic thoughts. It was a lot to process after all. In the end the day had gone better than he or Lin could have ever hoped for. They left Republic City this morning to find clues about the Avatar but now they found the Avatar herself and these people are willing to support them in their fight against Amon. It was all a bit surreal. It may be a comforting thought but Lin was right even if he doesn't want to admit it but they don't really know these people and he was inviting them to live with his family on air Temple Island.

But one thing was certain, they were all really powerful from what he has seen and heard today especially the council. Lilith alone seemed to radiate power and dominance, but she also seemed patient, a rare trait for a firebender, and full of compassion even if her eyes showed her distrust towards strangers like Lin and him.

The waterbender, Miko, seemed very composed and full of raw power. Sometimes during the meeting he got the strange feeling as if someone was playing with the blood in his body but he wasn't sure if Miko really was playing with his blood or if it was just his imagination. He didn't know if Miko really bloodbend his blood today because his father described the feeling of being bloodbended as painful and spasmodic and the only feeling he got was a strange one, but it wasn't unpleasant.

The oldest one, Taria seemed cold and heartless and showed no real interest in anything that happened around her. But he was fascinated from the moment he met her, despite her attitude. Lin said that she moved the metal without using a single muscle. Maybe she mastered a psychic bending technique, the ability to bend only using the mind, like Yakone with bloodbending or the old combustionbenders who could manipulate the heat with their thoughts alone.

Mai, the only nonbender on the council seemed nearly as cold as Taria. Her weapon of choice was a wicked looking Katana. She was observant and seemed highly intelligent. She was the head mechanic of the clan and worked in the garage with her daughter Kuro and her student Hiro. He hadn't learned anything else about her. Except that the coldness in her eyes disappeared when she looked at her daughter and at Hiro, like it did at dinner.

Korio was the younger brother of Taria. He was the only male on the council and he taught Korra earthbending so he must be a highly skilled bender. His character seemed youthful and not nearly as cold as his older sister. He reminded Tenzin a bit of his late uncle Sokka.

The last council member was the Avatar herself. Young Korra, not even eighteen years old and she already had a huge responsibility to bear. Korra remarked that she became a member of the council two years ago. And according to her she already mastered all four elements. This makes her the second youngest Avatar in history who mastered all four. His father was the first as he mastered all elements before the age of fourteen.

He was surprised how quickly these people agreed to help them fight against Amon. Because they seemed very secluded and not very trusting in regards to strangers. But the only thing to do now was wait. He didn't know how the fight against Amon would end now with these people at their side. He hoped that he did the right thing today. Tenzin closed his eyes and listened to the soft breathing of his old friend as he drifted off to a well-deserved rest.

* * *

 **Phew. I'm so sorry guys. It took me nearly one month and two weeks to get this chapter right. In the end I've written this entire thing three or four times because I wasn't satisfied with how the chapter turned out. And if I'm honest I'm still not satisfied with how this one turned out.**

 **For three weeks I suffered under a strong illness called writers-block. You probably won't believe this but I have written the last three thousand words in the last four days. And on top of it I have school and we write exams after only three weeks of school. And my school is very chaotic so many thing go wrong before everything runs smoothly as it should run when a new year starts.**

 **Anyway back to the story. I'm open for suggestions and ideas. If you find mistakes please tell me so I can correct them in the near future. If you have questions I will answer them as much as I can.**

 **I want to thank everyone for your support, you guys are awesome! But especially StevenBodner for his support. Your ideas and correcions helped me immensely. I hope that you will help me again with this story.**

 **This is ScouterFight and I'm out ;).**


End file.
